Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

The economic strategy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union [CPSU] is to increase steadily the standard of living of the Soviet People. This aim is reflected in the 1977 Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR],1 the Program of the CPSU and the decisions of the XXVII Congress of the CPSU. This task, however, requires careful utilization of natural resources.

The state of water resources presently occupies the center of attention of the Soviet State. Ground waters are especially significant, since they play a large role in the public water supply and provide considerable potential reserves are considerable. Pollution, however, characterizes the modern state of ground waters, especially in areas of intensive industrial development or in which urban concentrations or large, industrial complexes exist. The principal sites of pollution normally adjoin surface waste receptacles, such as evaporation ponds, accumulators, slag dumps, ash dumps and tailing ponds, from which sewage filters into ground waters. Filtration accumulators for the wastes of the USSR ministries of ferrous metallurgy, non-ferrous metallurgy and the chemical industries generate special concern.

Significant pollution of ground waters also derives from livestock farms and agricultural enterprises which use chemicals, such as pesticides and herbicides to protect plants. The discharge of mineral-rich water from irrigated land pollutes surface water that, in turn, pollutes ground water. For example, the downstream waters of the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya are highly mineralized. Salty waters flow from irrigated fields into the ground waters of the Crimea. The intensive use of ground waters for irrigation in the Crimea has led to the significant depletion of water resources, and has had the effect of drawing salty water up from the north of the peninsula and from low-lying water areas. Individual collective farms and state farms have caused this situation by misusing land irrigation technology and exploiting ground waters for irrigation. These irrigation techniques may lead to the salinization of ground waters, thereby making them unsuitable for agricultural or potable water supplies.

Industrial mining and refining of minerals creates large amounts of waste and may lead to the pollution of ground waters by toxic metals. Pouring liquid industrial wastes into deep crevices and failing to bury containers with wastes of low and medium radioactivity deep enough also pose great dangers to ground waters. The deleterious effects of such activities may not be discovered for many years or even decades.

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